POLITICAL (AND PERSONAL) AIDES

a year ago

Report: Virginia Congressman Made Staff Clean Up Dog Poop

Rep. Tom Garrett (R-VA) and his wife reportedly made office staff and interns do “mundane” personal tasks like picking up groceries, driving their children, and picking up dog poop, according to Politico. Garrett and his wife, Flanna, would often come to the office with their dog, whom staff were told to watch during office hours, former aides told the outlet. The staffers were also told to clean up after the Jack Russell-Pomeranian mix if she happened to defecate in the office. When Garrett showed up to the office with a stain on his shirt or without a belt, staffers were asked to pick up new clothes for him, his former employees said. One time, a staffer was asked to pick up food from the grocery store and help Flanna unload them in her Washington apartment. Aides and interns were also asked to drive to Scottsdale, Virginia—a three-hour drive from Washington—to pick up Garrett’s two daughters from a previous marriage and drive them to D.C. Garrett’s spokesman said there was currently “no ethics investigation” into the office, but Garrett has had “lawyers from the House Ethics Committee meet with him and his staff[.]” Sixty percent of Garrett's staff left in 2017, while the typical rate for staff turnover in the House is around 25 percent.